A lone document lost in the Alstalsian forests, carried by the winds far from its home...Report from Scout █████(MM-02-29007)The monsters were well prepared to deal with the Grimalkin, if only due to their resistance to dark magic, judging by how little they seemed to be affected when struck with it. Few were capable of utilizing other magics, but, it was enough to save at least some lives. By the time my unit arrived, they had already reached the first floor, but were pushed back with the combined efforts of the already stationed guards and citizens. Casualties on the first floor were few, and we proceeded downwards, the guard tending to those wounded.

I am unsure if the blood on the steps were simply from the monsters that made it up, or from those who tried to escape. I paid it little heed as I refocused my attention upwards, the pathway was clear, though the sound of battle still rang out from within the caverns. We slowly proceeded, breaching each room as we passed, even if no noise could be heard.

The first room, we were met with terrified faces. At least eight citizens had constructed a barricade--that was now flattened--in there. They were escorted to the first floor by a fraction of my unit. As they left, one of the monsters burst from the third room, covered in blood, carrying two corpses on it. One on a hand, the other in its gaping maw. I did not hesitate to open fire on the monster’s head, which was quickly repeated by the majority of my remaining unit.

Riddled with bullets, the monster had only managed to leap forward in its death throes, barely scratching one of my unit with the claw that carried a body, falling lifeless afterwards. Upon inspection, it was not a corpse. They were alive, barely. My unit simply stared, the citizen stared back. I took it upon myself to raise my weapon, and fire at the citizen’s head. We could not afford to hesitate in our duty, and I made this clear to my unit.

We regrouped with the rest of my unit, and proceeded to breach the second room. A single citizen and her children were found hiding in a bed, and were escorted back by two of my unit--we proceeded onwards to check the third room while they did this.

The third, fourth, and fifth rooms were all vacated. Signs of battle were obviously apparent in them. Likely where the monsters who breached the first floor were prior. The exact details will be attached at the end of this report.

The final, sixth living quarters was breached without issue. Unlike the others, there were no signs of battle. The room must’ve been vacated before the fighting started. With all the civilian quarters checked, we proceeded toward the courtyard, which happened to be where most of the noise had been coming from.

Screams of various tones filled the air, deafening as we descended the steps down into the courtyard proper. The enemy was abundant here, orders did not need be spoken, they were felt. Within seconds our unit had downed one of the monsters in a hail of gunfire. I yelled our next priority target’s direction, and the process continued.

Chaos acted as our shield for some time as we began to whittle at their numbers ever so slightly. One of my unit yelled out, seeing a monster that looked different. ██████████████. We didn’t have time to focus our attention on it, as the monsters had realized we were here, and began to strike back.

A healthy monster was much more threatening than an injured one, like the first we’d encountered. I saw a shadow descend nearby, and resounding thud followed by scraping, drawing my attention to the source--one of the monsters had pinned one of my unit mere inches from me. Quickly afterwards, the monster’s neck was carved into by the downed unit. I fired a single shot into the monster’s head before looking away, yelling new orders to my unit.

We were still missing those who had escorted the civilians of room two, we could only pray they were returning with reinforcements. What remained of my unit began to move around the outskirts of the courtyard, in an attempt to group with what fighters still remained in battle with the monsters. One of my unit stated they saw some civilians in the center, thus, we turned and made our way there.

Many monsters stood between us and the center. I counted at least five--considering their size, it could’ve proved hazardous to our unit of now seven. I took aim, ordering our unit to split into pairs--leaving myself alone, and opened fire on the closest monster.

Luckily whoever was fighting in the center had attracted many of the monster’s attention, allowing us to injure if not down several of the monsters before they could react. When they did, our unit had to split further apart once the remaining monsters approached.

One monster who turned to face us--me, specifically, lurched only a few inches before stopping. A spear piercing its mouth from behind. The weapon was twisted several times before vanishing behind the creature before it fell over, presumably dead. My rifle was raised at it already, though this prepared me for what it would reveal.

The monster’s killer was █████████████████. I caught a glimpse of what I presume was her daughter, and another monster. Her attention quickly turned back that way, my vision of the other civilian obstructed by her. I lifted my rifle upwards at what I could still see--the monster’s head, and fired several times.

It fell backwards from the assault of both myself and ███████, though I could not clearly see what she was doing. As I went to approach, the ███████ monster intercepted me, appearing behind ███████, between myself and her. By the time my weapon was raised, ███████ was likely attacked.

A bolt of lightning flew over my head and at the ██████ monster, causing it to jerk upright in pain and lose its hold on ███████. I wasted no time opening fire on it, though it quickly retreated, taking several of my shots into its back with seemingly little effect.

I looked around myself, the room slowly growing silent. The monsters were all fleeing, the screams dying down to whines. I took this time to look behind myself. The ███████ had arrived with the remainder of my unit, and several more guardsman. He quickly ordered them to gather ███████ before walking forward himself.

From there we gathered the dead and wounded, as the guardsman took watch of the courtyard.

NOTES:

Room One - Fortified shelter, minimal damage aside from the broken door. Upon later inspection, the door appears to have been damaged prior to the breach, faint traces of blood present on the front.
*The paper appears to be torn here, whatever was below this point is gone.*